Analysis of the distribution and formation process of travertine

Travertine is a major category of limestone in the marble series, which is loved by designers at home and abroad with its rich colors, clear grains, and obvious but very characteristic hole structure, creating a large number of classic stone projects such as the Vatican, Bank of China Beijing Headquarters, Shenzhen Kingkey Financial Center, Shanghai Bo Center, Dongguan Yulan Grand Theater and so on. Travertine is very rich in color, the most mainstream is light beige, as well as yellow travertine, coffee travertine, super white travertine, red travertine, gray travertine, golden travertine and so on.

Distribution of travertine mines

Travertine is widely distributed, most notably in Italy, Turkey, Iran, and in recent years, better quality travertine has also been produced in Mexico.

Italian travertine is mainly Roman travertine, limestone, silver lime cave, and the mine also produces a kind of golden cave, but it is mainly sold abroad and has not entered the Chinese market. THESE VARIETIES ARE DIFFERENT MINES AND LEVELS OF THE SAME MINING AREA, THE MINING AREA IS LOCATED IN THE SMALL TOWN OF TIVONI NEAR ROMAN, ALONG BOTH SIDES OF THE ROAD DISTRIBUTED FRANTELI POGGI, IGINO POGGI, PACIFICI, GIANSANTI, DOMUS, STR, BTR, BROUN POGGI AND OTHER MINES, THE WHOLE MINING AREA IS ABOUT 4km * 2KM.

Travertine in Turkey is scattered throughout the country. THE LARGEST MINING AREA IS LOCATED IN DENIZLI, WHICH MAINLY PRODUCES RICE WHITE HOLES, WHICH ARE ALSO PRODUCED IN ANTALYA, AFYON, NIGDE, SIVAS PRODUCES GOLDEN TRAVERTINE AND RED TRAVERTINE, AND KONYA PRODUCES YELLOW TRAVERTINE AND KARAMAN ULTRA-WHITE TRAVERTINE.

The process of travertine formation

Travertine is called TRAVERTINE in English, and the scientific name is Limestone, and geological studies have shown that the formation of travertine is very closely related to hydrothermal vents

Travertine formation goes through 4 main steps:

1. Atmospheric precipitation and entering the ground to form groundwater.

2. Groundwater passes through limestone, and the calcium carbonate in limestone is continuously dissolved and gradually reaches saturation.

geothermal gradient effect, groundwater continues to heat up in the process of going deep underground, and the solubility of calcium carbonate increases, dissolving more calcium carbonate.

4. Saturated groundwater gushes out, forming hot springs and the temperature decreases, and the solubility of calcium carbonate decreases and precipitates to form travertine.

MOST BEAUTIFUL AND TYPICAL TRAVERTINE IN THE WORLD IS PAMUKKALE, TURKEY, WHERE HOT SPRINGS CONTINUE TO GUSH, AND THE CALCIUM CARBONATE RICH IN THEM IS CONSTANTLY DEPOSITED TO FORM A VERY CHARACTERISTIC LANDSCAPE. The travertine in Pamukkale is very different from the travertine commonly found in the stone industry, mainly because although the formation process is the same, the environment in which it is formed is very different.

Mineralization characteristics and ore control factors

1. The environment in which travertine is formed is mainly the seabed, at least the bottom of the Great Lake. Commercially valuable travertine mines require uniform materials with beautiful grain. If the travertine formed on the surface is very uneven on the one hand, as in Pamukkale, the grain will also be very messy. Only in the bottom of the sea or at the bottom of the large lake, which is a very weak hydrodynamic environment, the hot springs gushing out of the underground can flow gently to the surroundings, and the calcium carbonate in it can be evenly precipitated and form beautiful lines. One of the major drawbacks of travertine in commerce is the bending pattern, which is the result of disturbances when hot vents gush.

2. The color bands of travertine are distributed along the grain. This is very obvious in various travertines such as Roman caves, silver gray caves, beige caves, red caves, golden caves, etc., and is also an important cause of travertine patterns. This color band is the original grain formed when travertine is formed, and the limestone dissolved in groundwater contains more impurities, which is precipitated when the hot spring gushes, and when the dissolved limestone becomes pure, the grain will disappear.

3. All travertine mines are horizontal, indicating that the ore body has been in the state in which it was formed, and has not undergone geological effects such as extrusion uplift. The holes in travertine are connected, and hot springs can pass through when they are formed. If you erect the block of travertine and water it on the top, you will find that the water can flow directly through the hole to the bottom.

4. Travertine basically does not undergo late metamorphism after formation. Travertine because there are many holes, flexural compressive strength is relatively poor, if subjected to greater external force, travertine will break and produce a lot of cracks, thus losing commercial value. More special is Roman travertine, which has undergone a certain compaction, normal travertine is also round, while Roman travertine holes are bent;

HAS ALSO UNDERGONE A CERTAIN RECRYSTALLIZATION, SO THE PLATE SURFACE IS PARTICULARLY ENAMEL, THE LUMINOSITY IS VERY HIGH, IN THE ROMAN TRAVERTINE OF THE GIANSANTI MINE, YOU CAN OFTEN SEE A CIRCLE OF CALCIUM CARBONATE CRYSTALS AROUND THE HOLE, AND THE TREATMENT IS GENERALLY DUG UP AND THEN REGLUED; These two aspects work together to make Roman travertine significantly stronger than other travertine.